Getting Started

Main Idea:
Don’t look to your past to define you; seek God’s new roads and rivers. The new road God has for you is His vision for you, and the new rivers He makes are His provision.

Discussion Starter:
Describe a time when you got lost or didn’t know where you were going. How did you feel when you finally found your way?

Introduction:
There is grace and greater purpose through God’s new rivers and roads. If you’re doing your own thing, if you’re not following God’s road and not drinking from His new rivers, then  you are going to miss some of the grace and greater purpose God has for you.

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Encounter God

Primary Scripture: Isaiah 43:18-19

Discussion Questions:
1. Is something in your past keeping you from all God has for you? How can you move past it?

2. What is something God has in store for you (a promise) that is exciting?

3. Pastor said that this world is set up to distract you from what God wants to do. What is one distraction you could remove from your life that may help you focus more on what God is doing?

4. Isaiah 43:19 encourages us to be aware of what God is doing. Compare with Hebrews 3:13-15. How can we not only be aware of what God is doing, but also avoid hardening our hearts to it?

Discovery Bible Method:
For deeper study, as an alternative to the questions above, read Isaiah 43:14-28 and use the Discovery Bible Method to explore the passage.

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Embrace Others

Suggestion: Consider breaking the group into dyads or triads for this section.

In your dyad or triad, commit to encourage each other this week. Tell each other an area where you need encouragement and where you need to hear God clearly.

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Engage the World Around Us

Engaging at Faith Promise: New rivers are a symbol of God’s providence. Find a fpStaff member or fpVolunteer who has a need and be a part of meeting it with God’s providence.

Engaging in Community: This week ask God to show you a wilderness in your community: somewhere He wants you to clear the way for Him, somewhere He wants you to remove obstacles to the proclamation of the Gospel.

Engaging the World: In Esther 4, we see that God prepared Esther to champion God’s message to those in power at a national level. Find an area in our national culture where God has called you to act and speak out in “such a time as this.”

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Expand God’s Kingdom

Don’t forget the 21-Day Fast begins Monday January 8 – this is an incredible opportunity to pray through what God wants to do through His new rivers and new roads this year! There will also be corresponding social media pieces each day of the fast, so follow Faith Promise on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter for daily encouragement throughout the next couple of weeks.

Begin the 21-day fast by meditating on the newness that God brings. Focus on our verse for 2018, and this first week compare it with Luke 5:33-38. Seek God’s provision for a new person you can begin to disciple or a fresh word you can bring to someone you are already pouring into.

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Leader’s Notes

E-Groups
– Encounter Groups: the primary focus of Encounter Groups is the deeper study and application of God’s Word.

– Embrace Groups: the primary focus of Embrace Groups is making friends and being friends on a deeper level.

– Engage Groups: the primary focus of Engage Groups is serving the people of our area through our local partners and through God-directed opportunities.

– Expand Groups: the primary focus of Expand Groups is the development and multiplication of disciple-makers to lead more groups at Faith Promise.